The letters
by IndigoisBlue
Summary: AU Summer left her daughter a letter before she left. A letter that tells of the silver eyed warriors, the four maidens, her heritage, her future, and the woman who seeks to destroy it all, Salem. But it also has a way to stop her. Very OOC.
1. Prologue

" _Come here my little rose," called Summer to her three-year-old daughter, Ruby rose._

" _What is it mama?" asked the little girl as she ran over to her mother, her way to large cloak trailing meters behind her._

" _I have something for you, something very important. It's a letter,"_

" _From who?" asked the curious little girl._

" _From me," answered her mother, "It has many different letters inside it as well. It has the recipe for your special Ruby cookies, tips and tricks in how to be the best huntress ever and some special information about yourself and your magic silver eyes that allow you to kill Grimm just by looking at them, you may even develop certain other abilities if you train hard enough, though more about that will be in the letter. It also explains what those two black lines on your back are. It even has information on your family tree,"_

" _But why give this to me now mama? I can't even read yet," Ruby asked, giggling._

" _I am going to give this to you now because in a few days, I am going on a mission which I might not return from. I know you don't fully understand my words, but one day I hope you will. You must keep this letter with you all the time, never let it out of your sight. Once you learn to read I want you to read it every day until you memorise it. And one more thing, your middle name, is Morrigan after your grandmother. Remember, you must never tell anyone about the letter and that you know all this. I hope you will one day figure all of this out but for now, go and play,"_

 _And so, she did._

 _And three days later, just as she promised, Summer rose was sent on a mission, one she never returned from. Strangely, when Taiyang tried to explain this to little Ruby, she replied, "I know daddy, mama went on an important mission and she is not coming back, that's why we said goodbye, right?"_

 _To this Taiyang only nodded as they headed back inside._

 _A few weeks later Ruby woke up to find herself in a cart in the middle of the woods. Looking around she noticed a strange old barn and her exhausted sister standing in front of her. Suddenly red eyes appeared from the darkness and little Ruby knew what to do. She stood in front of her nearly unconscious sister and said in a high pitched and childish voice, "You can't hurt me or my sister, for I am a silver eyed warrior and I will kill you if you do,"_

 _And so, one by one, the Grimm around her started to kneel and lower their heads. Pointing to one of the Beowolves, she spoke once more, "Take me and my sister home please," and so the Beowolf carefully nudged Yang and Ruby back into the little cart and tugged them to the edge of the forest before running off with Ruby calling out a tired, "Thank you" before falling asleep with her sister._

 _Little did they know; a dusty old crow had been watching this ordeal transpire from a high tree branch. He had been about to interfere when he saw Ruby command the Grimm and thought to himself_ 'like mother, like daughter, still, how did she know how to do that? Summer…'

 _Two years later, Ruby could finally read. She raced upstairs to her room and pulled the letter from her mother out from her skirt and started to read. After three hours, she had finally finished deciphering the letter in its squiggly handwriting. There were still many things she did not understand about the letter, but now she knew this; one day, she would be the only one able to save the world from the dwelling darkness, and when that evil arises, it will not expect her to be ready._

'Well then,' _she thought, '_ we'll just have to see about that, won't we?'


	2. Déjà vu

She turned from the weapons magazine in 'from dust till dawn' as she felt a tap on her shoulder. Frowning, she removed her headphones, the lyrics echoing loudly through the store, as the man holding her at gunpoint demanded her surrender.

"Yeah… nah!" she said to herself as the man went flying. Walking to the front of the shop, and exiting through the broken window, she dropped into her battle stance as the glass shards began to reform the window.

"Sorry about that!" she called to the shop owner who merely nodded his head in thanks and started dialling the police.

She quickly recalled the third of her mothers' many rules; always bring anything you might need, and uncoiled the black rope from one of her many pockets, holding it at the ready as the grunts-for-hire started to attack.

Making short work of them, then tying them with her rope to a streetlight, she made chase for the fleeing criminal. Using her semblance to land on the roof, she started firing stun rounds at her target, Roman Torchwick, self-proclaimed criminal mastermind. Her aim remaining as true as ever, Torchwick soon fell just as a bullhead started to take off, the occupants of which started hurling broken glass at her. Slicing through it with her scythe, then dodging the flames erupting from the ground, she continued firing at the ship, only this time with ice rounds that froze their fuel lines.

Just as her opponent was about to throw more fire at her, a tall, blond lady wearing spectacles and a neat suit and using a riding crop to help direct her telekinetic semblance, got in the way and stopped her attack, giving the mysterious woman a chance to get away, just as the frozen fuel pump stopped completely.

"What the hell do you think you're doing young lady!" Ruby shouted at the older, and taller, woman, who was wearing a rather shocked and affronted expression.

"Summer?" she murmured. It was then that Ruby realised who the woman was, but didn't care enough to stop.

"I was about to redirect her attack so that it blew up the bullhead so we could capture her along with Torchwick," Ruby accused whilst gesturing to the still out cold criminal before continuing, "Do you have any idea just who that lady was?!"

"Summer, wait!" Glynda called out as the young girl started to walk off, "I thought… I thought you were dead, what happened to you?"

Walking back to the obviously confused huntress, Ruby said in a calmer voice than before, "Miss Goodwitch, I am sorry to inform you that my mother is, in fact, still dead. My name is Ruby Morrigan Rose, her daughter, and that lady you just let escape, works for a certain you-know-who and has stolen a certain you-know-whats' powers, leaving her in critical condition in that exaggerated hole of a basement you call a vault, back at beacon. Now, excuse me, but I need to go after her before she tries to kill anyone else, namely Ozpin. Goodbye,"

And with that Ruby Rose turned to leave only to find herself stopped by a purple aura. Twisting her head and continuing walking to the edge of the rooftop, she sighed, "That will not work Glynda, I am my mothers' daughter and I know all of her tips and tricks, your telekinesis will not work on me unless I want it to, now if you'll excuse me," as she jumped from the roof.

A startled Glynda stopped her once more and raised her unpleased form back onto the roof and into sight. Folding her arms and pinching the bridge of her nose, ruby sighed and exasperated sigh and said, "What is it now Glynda?"

"Firstly, Ozpin will want to talk about this so I need to take you to the station, not only about tonight but about what you know about certain… things. Secondly, where did you learn to fight like that, you can be no older than 17 or else you'd be at beacon, yet you fight better than most of the best hunters. And finally, what the hell do you think you're doing jumping of a 10-story building like that!?" Glynda asked, shouting the last sentence as the girl removed herself from the air, floating gracefully back down to the roof top.

"A. I did realise that, otherwise, I would not still be here. B. I taught myself, with a little help from my dad and my uncle. And C. Do you honestly think, that I am incapable of surviving a meagre drop such as that? Assuming I even drop at all and not fly off, which, for all you know, could be exactly what I had been planning to do," Ruby replied, somewhat indignantly.

"Fly off? Never mind. You're worse that Summer was, you know that?" Ruby nodded proudly, before Glynda continued, "Afterwards, I will take you home, but for now, you must follow me to the police station. Come along,"

Ruby grinned before bolting back to the edge of the building and jumping before Glynda could react. Closing her eyes and praying before looking over the edge, she found there to be no mangled body. She heard a voice, clearing their voice behind her, so she turned to meet it, before barely catching herself as she stumbled further towards the edge.

"For your information, I was in fact, going to fly," Ruby grinned, as she hovered in the air, supported by two midnight black crows' wings, silent and well camouflaged with her cloak nowhere to be found.

Staring in awe at the amazing student before her, Glynda said, "You truly are exceptional Ruby Rose, even in the few moments I've known you, I find myself truly amazed. But may I ask, how old are you exactly?"

"Umm," Ruby stuttered, shifting uncomfortably in the air under the gaze and praise of the blond huntress before blurting quickly, "I, um, am only 15,"

 _This will be extremely out of character of me_ Glynda thought _but I think I am on the verge of losing consciousness._

And as if reading her mind, Ruby swooped forward to catch the older huntress in her arms, gently carrying her the police station, sneaking her in so as not to let her lose face in front of the authorities.

Carefully shaking the woman awake, Ruby whispered, "Ozpin will be entering the room in about 30 seconds, and if you don't wake up, and assume your imaginary authority, I imagine he will find your pathetic fainting act to be rather inappropriate for faculty members, especially the deputy head, so wake up! And don't mention what exactly happened on the rooftop. And 5-4-3-2-1 and he's here,"

The door opened to reveal a youngish looking man, early 40s at the oldest, but with rather misleading silver hair. Luckily though for Glynda, she had awoken in time to appear professional to her superior, and so, nothing seemed amiss.

Placing a silver platter of cookies on the table and indicating for Ruby to eat them, which she did, he asked, "Now where did a young innocent such as yourself, learn to fight like this?" as he held up his extended scroll.

"First of all," Ruby started, once she had swallowed her cookies, "You put in too much sugar, on top of an excessive amount of syrup, with not enough salt to balance it all out. No kidding, they seem perfect to me, but you keep making the same mistake and I can see why mum would always complain. You need balance, otherwise the cookie ends up too dense. Remember your portions,"

"You know, your mother once said that exact sentence when we were attending beacon," Ozpin chuckled softly.

"I know. Mum told me," Ruby commented lightly as Ozpin looked at her startled before laughing slightly and murmuring, "You're worse than Summer," giving both girls slight Déjà vu.

"Anyway, down to business," Ozpin said, snapping out of his reverie, "Who taught you to use a scythe this well? And to fight so well without it? And to… well do anything displayed in this video?"

"Well, my dad and uncle taught me the basics of hand to hand and scythe wielding, but I'm mostly self-taught, but everything else, well… I can't exactly say, other than that my mum taught me," Ruby replied cryptically, avoiding his gaze.

"Well then, rather than me question you more about that, let me ask you, what is a girl like you, doing taking down criminals, and I imagine, Grimm?" Ozpin asked kindly.

"I wish to be a huntress, just like my mother," Ruby smiled fondly.

"And why is that," Ozpin questioned further, curious to see as to why so innocent and young a girl could possibly want to slay monsters.

"Many reasons. Because I've always wanted to help people. Because I wish to destroy the darkness that murdered my mother, and because I know exactly how to do so," she replied as Ozpins eyes widened slightly.

"So you want to fight the Grimm and save lives?" he asked, trying to cover and make sense of the girls' words.

"Well yes, but we both know that wasn't what I meant. My mother taught me many things before she left, that is only one of them," she said mysteriously before faking a smile and a bubbly disposition, "I meant that I also want to combat the darkness in people, like those poor mislead Faunus from the white fang, and criminals like Roman Torchwick," she said happily before momentarily turning serious to say, "The Grimm are not the only dark things in this world, no?"

Unsure what the girl was hiding, Ozpin was about to question further when she continued, "Besides, my sister is going to Beacon this year, and when I'm old enough, I want to as well! Just like our parents in team STRQ! They were so cool!"

Deciding to leave his curiosity to rest for now, he looked over to Glynda who, knowing exactly what he was thinking, was nodding furiously.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked and she nodded.

"You are professor Ozpin, headmaster at Beacon,"

"And you want to come to my school?"

"Most definitely," Ruby answered.

"Well okay then," he consented as Ruby and Glynda jumped around squealing slightly, before retaining their professionalism, still smiling widely.

"I won't let you down professor Ozpin,"


	3. Introductions

Arriving at the secret take off place of the airship to beacon, Ruby surprised her sister from behind with a hug and a loud, "Yang!"

Said sister turned to face her younger sibling with a shocked, yet impressed, expression on her face and said, "How d'ya follow me without getting caught or me noticing? This is supposed to be secret you know,"

"Well, sis," Ruby started, bubbling with excitement, "Remember how a few nights ago I said that I wish we could attend Beacon together?"

Yang nodded and motioned for her to continue.

"Well, last night I met a man named professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, who was so impressed with me and my fabulousness, that he just had to put me forward 2 years! Isn't that great?!"

A rather white looking Yang suddenly coloured and smiled a huge smile and shouted in excitement, hugging the life near out of her sister as she squealed, "My baby sister's going to Beacon with me!" then pausing and asking, "What exactly did you do to gather this much attention?"

Ruby pointed to the blurry footage of the just before the capture and arrest of Roman Torchwick when she fought his goons that was playing on the news. It was of an unrecognisable scythe wielder who, moving at super-sonic speeds, took down over 10 trained henchmen for hire in seconds then made chase for their leader, ultimately ending in his arrest.

"I don't get it," Yang said.

"Look closer at that red figure," Ruby told her.

As she did, and realisation dawned on her face, Ruby fell over laughing at her, occasionally rather slow, older sister whose jaw was currently situated on the floor of the ship. Snapping out of her bewildered trance, Yang turned, still shocked, towards her sister, and said, "Wow. I knew my baby sis was good but this is just… wow. And this Torchwick guy, he was a trained and practised ex-huntsman turned criminal, right? And you took him down, easy peasy, no problem, without injury or assistance, and with one shot? Wow, just wow. If you want me, I will be sinking into a pit of depression, over there, in the corner,"

"Aww, don't be say Yang. You are just as capable of doing that as I am! Remember a couple of weeks back, at Juniors' club? Well that was a similar situation, just less footage. Besides, no one will ever know it was me unless either Ozpin or Glynda were questioned on the matter,"

just at that moment, Lisa Lavender, the news reader, spoke up, "And now for our, rather short, interview with professor Glynda Goodwitch and headmaster Ozpin of Beacon academy," the screen show footage of the two hunters.

"She is a student at our academy, that is all I can say," this came from Ozpin, cutting it brief as always before Glynda froze the crowd in place with her semblance, allowing the 2 to escape.

"Still, no one will know," Ruby said reassuringly.

"Well if you say so Rubes," and the two left it at that, sitting and chatting throughout the entire, uneventful trip, bar the vomit boy incident. Thankfully Ruby reacted fast enough to protect her and her sister from the spray by discretely shifting its direction so it would just miss them. As soon as they landed, Ruby encouraged Yang to find her friends in the crowd and let her explore in peace, which Yang did.

Whilst wandering the courtyard however, Ruby heard a soft rattling behind her and jumped out of the way, just in time to dodge a fast moving, run away luggage trolley. Wasting no time in sprinting after it, Ruby stopped it just before it crashed over the bridge

The private airship, painted a stark white with the pale Schnee logo printed onto the side, landed smoothly in the landing dock, just outside of Beacon. As the excited heiress ran outside, feeling warm air for the first time in years, she let out a happy laugh. Nothing could ruin her day. As her employees unloaded her luggage into a carrier, one made to transport it to her quarters but she stopped him.

"It's okay Klein. I will take it myself. You can head back now and take some time off," the overjoyed heiress said the tired butler. He nodded in thanks before boarding the ship which, not long after, departed. Twirling around, arms out, she sighed in contentment. Removing her jacket and tying it about her waist, she began to wheel her luggage towards the school.

Suddenly, feeling a bump in the road, she let go of her trolley, and watched on dismayed as it whizzed towards the school. Realising it was heading straight for another student, she made chase, calling uselessly for her luggage to stop.

Then something miraculous happened.

The girl who was about to be hit dodged the getaway bags before sprinting after them, catching them before they fell into the lake, just as she arrived. As the girl turned to face her, handing back her luggage, the heiress smiled warmly and said, "Hi! My name is Weiss. Thank you for saving my bags,"

"Hi! My name is Weiss. Thank you for saving my bags," the white themed owner of the bags said, retrieving her luggage, "I totally owe you,"

"It's nothing, but careful, I think the one of your dust canisters might have broken, I thought I heard a crack just before I caught them," Ruby smiled cheerfully.

"Thanks, I'll check," Weiss replied. She opened one of her suitcases and picked up one of the red dust vials, finding it slightly chipped around the seal. But as she did so, and the dust was released slightly into the air, both girls started to sniff. And then, as one, sneeze. Activating all the red fire dust in the air, causing both girls to be thrown backwards onto the pavement.

Laughing, Weiss helped a somewhat disgruntled Ruby up to inspect the damage, only to find it fixing itself. Ruby, joining her newly found friends' laughter, also noticed, just as the last crack disappeared, her silver eyes wide.

Holding out her hand, the red and black clad girl said, "Hi, my name's Ruby, I'm starting at beacon this year, are you?"

"Uh hun!" Weiss nodded, thinking that damage repairs were just a part of Beacons many wonders, "I'm so excited! But also, slightly lost. Do you know where we are supposed to go for the introduction speech?"

"Yup, it should be starting in about half an hour, the auditorium is this way, come on!" Ruby said, grabbing Weiss's bags, "But first I can run these to the ballroom where we'll be sleeping. I'll only take a second,"

The white-haired girl was about to object but Ruby was already gone. turning in a full circle and facing the direction she ran off in, Weiss found Ruby standing before her once more.

"How did you do that?" Weiss asked, unaware of the black themed huntress in training walking up behind them.

"My semblance is speed, so I just ran our luggage to the ballroom and back, fast as lightning," Ruby replied, preening slightly before leaning and looking around Weiss, "Hi there! What's your name?"

The mystery girl looked surprised before answering, "Blake, Blake Belladonna,"

"Well I'm Ruby, and this here is Weiss!" Ruby said, nodding to the girl.

"Do you want to follow us to the auditorium?" Weiss offered, smiling cheerfully.

Golden eyes narrowing slightly at the name, then widening profusely at her attitude, smiled oddly and closed her book, thinking _'Why not?'_ and following the two girls, joining in with their happy chatter and enjoying herself for the first time in ages.

As they walked, Ruby thought to herself, ' _I think that this will be my new team, along with Yang of course, the best team ever,'_ and looked up to meet the silvery brown eyes that were monitoring them from above.

After closely watching this spectacle unfold, a man exited the his high up office and headed towards the auditorium to give his speech. On the way there, he spoke to his close friend and co-worker, "Glynda, was it you who fixed the pavement after those girls… incident?"

"Ozpin, you know my semblance doesn't work from this far away, so I don't know who else it could have been,"

"Did you notice Miss Roses' eye colour when she looked up at us?" he asked, looking for an answer.

"No, does it matter?" she asked.

"I don't know how I missed it before but, they are the same colour as her mothers. Silver," he said.

"Silver? You don't mean… oh!" Glynda exclaimed, gasping in shock, "She saw me use my semblance, and I have no doubt she has seen it beforehand as well, but she can't have, can she?"

"There is little doubt in my mind Glynda. I must say, we are certainly in for an interesting year. An heiress, a Faunas, the equivalent of a Pyromaniac and a Silver Eyed Warrior/quarter faunas," Ozpin commented, watching Glynda closely.

"But how did you know about the… you know," Glynda asked, gesturing to her back.

"Glynda," he asked just as they arrived.

"Yes sir?"

"You don't want to know," Ozpin stated as he walked out to the stage of the auditorium

"Yes sir," sighing somewhat, Glynda searched the crowd for the 4 girls who would undoubtedly be standing together somewhere. Spotting them laughing together near a corner with four other students they had undoubtedly picked up along the way, she smiled softly, activating the soul dust woven into her glasses to view their auras.

' _Just as I thought, perfectly compatible in every way,'_


	4. a change of style

"So," Blake said, as the four girls that would soon make up team RWBY sat in their sleeping bags in a circle, not really knowing why, "I am a cat faunas, in case you didn't know. I have a history in the white fang, but I left a while ago," she finished and removed her bow quickly before putting it back on and hiding her face.

"That is so cool! I always used to wish I was a faunas when I was little. I used to want little pointy ears of a big fluffy fox tail. For a while I even wished I had a pelican beak so I could eat more at once. Or even retractable claws so I could climb the curtains," Weiss said happily, recalling the time she found a small packed of screws, glued them to her fingers and tried just that.

"Yeah!" agreed Yang laughing, "The faunas are so awesome with their night vision and special hearing skills. I remember I was once asked if I was some sort of dragon or lion faunas because of my semblance, which as a side effect generated fire, and because of my hair,"

"When I was little, I just wished I could be a bird faunas so I could fly, like my d… like a friend I once knew," Ruby said, adding her little piece, "Some of the kids at school used to tease me about it because they don't believe in winged faunas, so I can see why you hide them,"

Blake looked up in shock at what had been said and met only kind eyes, "So you don't mind?"

"Course not! I even respect the white fang. Though their methods are wrong, their cause is a good one. In fact, I wanted to join them when I was really little, because I thought they were fighting for kitten equality and that meant we all got kittens," said Weiss giggling.

They continued on, on that subject and many others when the topic of initiation came up.

"Do you know how we will be forming our teams? I heard from a senior that we don't really get to choose," asked Yang, "But if you ask me, I would like to be in a team with you three,"

"Same here," they all chorused in agreement before laughing at their mass unison.

"But how can we make sure?" Weiss asked, thinking of possible ways.

"I wonder… Are we allowed tracking devices on our scrolls?" Blake asked.

"Nah, no scrolls allowed," Yang replied.

"How about tracking devices separate from our scrolls?" Weiss suggested.

"I'm pretty sure we could get away with that, but where you would find those is a mystery to me," said sadly.

"Umm, I have a few," Ruby said timidly, barely audible.

"What! Where!?" her older sister asked incredulously.

"Well the best huntress is always prepared, so I figured that I might need them someday, so I built a few into Crescent Rose and I always store a few in my belt, just in case. Here," she said reaching to her bag and pulling out four small devices.

"They are linked to one another. The colour of the dot represents the person and it will ping off of each other's device, coming up on this little screen here," she continued, pulling the halves of the red coloured device apart to create a screen similar to a scroll, "If you attach it somewhere near the hilt of your weapon, or in Yangs' case, on her cuff, it should blend right in!"

"Sounds perfect, but who will be whose partner?" asked Blake.

"Let's just see what happens next, right now, I need some serious Zs'," yawned Yang, the others promptly agreeing with her that it was getting pretty late, ending with them all falling asleep huddled together in a circle.

That morning when the Blake, Weiss and Yang awoke, they found Ruby already awake and silently slipping on her shoes, her cloak on the sleeping bag next to her. None of them found that too strange, Ruby warning them beforehand that she might awaken earlier than the others. What was interesting however, was what Ruby was wearing.

It was not the red and black battle skirt ensemble that her sister had become accustomed too and that Blake and Weiss had seen her in the day before. It was, in fact, a black leather corset, scooped low at the back, with black leather pants and knee high lace up leather and lace black boots, embroidered with a blood red rose vine up the calf. Around her waist was a thick black belt with red roses embroidered onto it and around her wrists were black leather cuffs with silver rose studs, her signature silver rose emblem was sewn onto a black, off centre choker, along with a silver and black cross pendant. Her surprisingly long hair, usually pinned up, was now in a ponytail and hanging halfway down her back in curls.

"Ruby, what are you wearing?" Yang asked in confusion at her sisters, admittedly awesome, attire, "What happened to your usual clothes?"

"I decided I wanted to trial something new," she answered, wrapping her cloak around her shoulders, pinning it to the opposite side of her rose emblem, placing the hood over her head, "I thought that coming to Beacon could be a fresh start so I decided, 'why not start wearing something else,' besides, I look totally fabulous and now, my belt won't stand out as much. Luckily these jeans are also super flexible as well," she added, showing off by raising her left leg straight above her head behind her to prove her point.

"Wow, you look awesome," said Blake, slightly jealous of her boots.

"Yeah, that really suits you!" cheered Weiss, "I think I'll take your initiative and change my outfit as well," she added picking out a pair of black stockings, a white combat dress and a black leather jacket.

"Hmm, I think we all should," agreed Blake as she found herself a white blouse with black cuffs and a black vest to go with her black shorts and thigh high dark purple to black fade socks and black ankle boots.

"Yeah! The watch everyone's reactions as we defeat Grimm looking like, well…" she gestured to her own outfit of a fitted yellow with black print t-shirt and black waist cincher with her black tight shorts and violet wrap with a black belt over the top. Her orange socks drawn up to her knees and black boots halfway up her calves.

Finishing getting dressed and calling their lockers for their weapons, they walked through the school toward initiation with 110% Coco approval, ready to kill some Grimm.

Standing on her launch pad overlooking the emerald forest, Ruby looked to her left at Blake, Weiss and her sister, Yang, and nodded to them, them nodding in return. One by one, the launch pads fired, sending each student off into the emerald forest. As her own pad was fired, sending her high into the air, and crashing into a certain crow causing her to call out, "Sorry uncle Qrow," she started to look for Weiss, only to find she had already landed and was heading towards her.

Racing forwards a few hundred meters, she found her and ran and crashed into her with a hug.

"Yay we're partners now!" they both squealed, jumping up and down in circles, causing a certain dusty old Qrow to roll his eyes.

Stopping, Weiss said, "Did you happen to glimpse the temple anywhere?"

"No, sorry, but I can check, only promise you won't tell Yang, I haven't exactly shown her this yet, promise?" Ruby asked.

"Of course," Weiss agreed.

"And you can't tell uncle Qrow either, it's a bit of a surprise I've been working on. have you heard of aura manifestations?" Ruby continued, piquing both Weiss and Qrows interest, aural manifestations were extremely difficult and advanced parts of training, and even then select few could master them, the fact that a fifteen year old was able to use them was unheard of, "Well, I figured out how to create one. I have to get better at using it before I show either of them because I want it to be a surprise. Ready?"

Weiss nodded as ruby jumped into the air, sprouting pure midnight black wings and flying gracefully up past the treetops and overlooking the forest, spotting the relics off in the distance. Swooping down, and retracting her wings, she started to lead Weiss in the correct direction.

But as she did so, blissfully unaware of the scrutiny from above, a crow turned into a Qrow, and turned to face one of the hidden cameras, "Hey Oz, did you know of this? I'm guessing you caught that on camera. I'm not sure what that was though. I heard her tell the white one that it was an aural manifestation, which whilst I have no doubt she is capable of, I suspect that wasn't what that was,"

"You would be correct in assuming that," Ozpin replied through a speaker, "Ruby is a quarter faunas, and unlike her sister, has activated genes. I'm surprised you didn't know that already. It is possible that she had no clue where those wings came from, the best explanation being an aural manifestation. It is also possible, but extremely unlikely, that she knows everything,"

"Everything?" Qrows head lolled slightly to the left, "How'd ya figure?"

"Just something she said when I first met her, she had kept saying things about there being a darkness other than the Grimm, then covering. Her exact words were 'The Grimm are not the only darkness in this world,' if she meant what I think she did, it could mean trouble. Also, I'm pretty sure Glynda is hiding something about what happened on the rooftop as well. One last thing is that she never said 'dad and uncle Qrow,' only 'my dad and uncle' no names. That girl sure is a strange one, that niece of yours, or should I say, daughter,"

Qrow smiled softly, "Yeah, she sure is. Though I haven't heard her called that in a while, I never stop thinking of her as that though,"

"Mabe you should tell the girl; she has a right to know. She can't live her whole life believing a lie," replied Ozpin kindly.

"Yeah, you're right, I'll tell her soon, but not quite yet. I was going to tell her as soon as she made it into beacon, but that came a bit early, but I will tell her, soon," Qrow finished, falling back off the branch and taking flight.


	5. The Evolution of silver

As Ruby lead Weiss through the forest, warding off Grimm with her silver eyes, Weiss asked her, "How did you do that? Was that really an aura manifestation?"

"No, it's just my uncle was watching from the tree. Did you notice that crow, up in the maple? That was him. He is half faunas, so he can turn into a crow, but don't tell anyone I know that. He thinks he is the only one, bar his sister, that knows about it, but my mum told me before she died. That is why I am quarter faunas, and I have these wings,"

"Does Yang know?" Weiss asked, worried.

"Yep, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to save her life as many times as I have. Mabe I'll tell Blake as well, once I get to know her," Ruby answered.

"Oh, okay then," Weiss replied, assuming that Rubys mother was her uncles' sister.

After a short while they had made it to the clearing that held the artefacts followed closely by Yang and her partner Blake.

"Ok, let's both choose the golden horses, so we're both the same," said Weiss, foregoing the chess pieces' original name, in lieu for a slightly more appropriate one. After picking up their artefacts, Blake started to look worried.

"What's up partner?" grinned Yang.

"It's just, when we were on our own, we fought quite a few groups of Grimm, right? But as soon as we joined you two, they just disappeared," Blake said, turning to Weiss and Ruby.

"Yeah, you're right," agreed Weiss and Yang, Ruby trying to stay quiet and unnoticed.

"Come to think of it, I was fighting a Beowolf pack just before I partnered up with Ruby, but as soon as she arrived, the stragglers ran off. Do you know what's going on Ruby?" Weiss asked.

"Uhh…" Ruby stalled. Thinking quickly, she used her silver eyes main function. In her head, she called for the nevermore that was nearby and asked if it would mind coming and fighting them for a while. She then said aloud, "I think you spoke too soon, look,"

And so, leading the nevermore to a larger area to fight, encountering the other four hunters in training they had met the day before, they started to do battle. Ruby noticing the other team in addition to her own had started to cause trouble for the nevermore, she called a giant Deathstalker to entertain the others.

After a short while, her two Grimm friends were starting to get seriously injured, so, using one of her many talents, she created the illusion of the Deathstalker being impaled on its own tail, and of herself decapitating the nevermore. She would have to thank the two Grimm for that later.

That afternoon, after the teams were called out, CRDL led by an idiot who is going to get himself killed sometime soon, JNPR led by an untrained boy with natural talent, and team RWBY led by Ruby Rose herself, Ruby headed out into the Emerald Forest again, to find and thank the Grimm who had helped her.

Reaching a clearing, she found multiple Grimm, including the two from earlier, had gathered around to wait for her. One Grimm, the nevermore, being the only Grimm capable of human tongue, spoke up for the others and said, "We are indebted to you lady reaper, for you saved the lives of the many Grimm who would otherwise have attacked you and gotten killed. And thank you also for sparing the lives of me and my scorpion brother, and not letting us get killed. We both had utter faith in you and you didn't disappoint. We must ask another thing of you, one that I am not sure you know of yet,"

"Of course, but what is it, I may know of it," Ruby replied, curious.

"You will not for it is something that the lady of both Summer and Winter did not know of in time to tell you," the Grimm spoke in an oddly feminine flow.

"You mean my mother? How do you know of her?" Ruby asked.

"Every Grimm knows when one of your kind is born, and so we try to avoid you at all costs. But it seems that you and your mother are of a different kind to your predecessors. You have evolved to grow a new ability with your eyes, one that your mother was on the verge of discovering. We only tell you this now as it will not only benefit us, but also you in your fight against Salem,"

"Well, what is it then?" said Ruby slowly.

"Not only do you have the original powers of a silver eyed warrior, being destroying Grimm with a glance, along with being able to see each person's aura and therefore replicate their semblance for as long as you've seen them use it at a time, but also you can command the Grimm and speak to them in your mind, as you already know. But what is unique about you, is that you can also change the Grimm. You can purify us, remove our darkness, leaving us good and immune to hunter attacks. Your soul then changes the dark energy you take into a black liquid that lives in your shadow that will grow darker each time you do this. This power does not go to your semblance or eyes. Some may go to your aura or weapon if you wish, but it is best used for summoning your own soulless, mindless creatures of Grimm, unable to think or feel, the only thing controlling their actions and animating their bodies being your mind," the nevermore explained

"You mean like what Salem does?" Ruby asked, slightly scared of becoming a monster like her.

"No, for she only gives us more of her darkness and madness, affecting her soul as well, whereas this will have no consequence on your soul as you are returning us to light and repurposing the darkness,"

"Then what about the tainted Grimm?"

"Those Grimm cannot be saved anymore but will still be likely to go willingly, to end their pain and suffering. If they are killed by an average hunter, their bodies and souls will go directly back to Salem, but if you draw that darkness to you, to your shadow, you will be able to harness it as an empty, yet powerful shell, and the poor creatures spirit will move on," the nevermore said sadly as many of the other Grimm lowered their heads in sorrow for their Grimm brothers and sisters.

"But how can I tell the difference between the mad Grimm and the, well, sane?" Ruby asked.

"The mad Grimm will have a different type of bone plate armour, with a shattered red pattern along with a third eye on the forehead and will have yellow eyes, whereas our eyes are red and our patterns are swirls, with no eye. So please, for the sake of all Grimm, start by taking away our darkness, remember, the Grimm are not evil, just misguided or mad, like your not-humans that try to kill the full humans,"

"You mean the faunas? Seeing as I'm quarter faunas, would that make a difference to what will happen to you?" said Ruby, stating her concerns.

"We will see, little lady Reaper. Now, you must walk by each of the Grimm here, making sure your shadows are touching, and cover their eyes and close yours, imagining a silver light washing over that Grimm, removing all their darkness, leaving them a pure white. Start with my Deathstalker brother," the nevermore commanded.

Smiling and nodding she did so, walking over to the Deathstalker who had helped her that day and touched shadows with it, immediately feeling a pleasant shock ring through her. Acting on instinct now, she covered its eyes, and concentrated on feeling the darkness bound to its soul. Finding it, she gave it a light tug, and it easily tore free. Opening her eyes, she gasped. The Deathstalker was a pure white colour, the Grimm markings on its bone-plate now resembling a rose vine, her symbol in the middle of its head.

"Thank you little one," the now English speaking Deathstalker said, before scuttling off. She went through the same process with all the others, getting faster each time, each leaving after giving their thanks, when finally, the only Grimm left was the giant nevermore, who was mostly bent down between the trees so as not to be seen and so she could talk to Ruby.

"Little lady reaper, you have saved many of my brothers and sisters, and now it is finally my turn, thank you," and with that Ruby took the darkness from the bird, who turned a stunning bluish white, her swirling bone armour now covering her whole head, her eyes now a dark greenish colour, like a normal bird.

"We all owe you a great debt but for now, I have a small gift for you. It does not even nearly equal what we owe you, and what you've done for us, but I hope it shall suffice for now," the bird pulled out from behind the bushes a strange plain white set of armour, similar to the Grimm bone armour but a plain white. The bird nudged it towards her with its beak and said, "Put it on over your clothes,"

Ruby did as she was told and found that the full body armour melted into her skin after gaining the same rose vine pattern that now adorned some of the Grimm.

"What was that?" Ruby asked in wonder.

"That, my dear, was your very own set of Grimm bone plate armour. It will appear just as it is needed and covers every part of you. It comes out on instinct or will, but be careful during that abomination you call a school not to reveal it to anyone lest it cause trouble. Now I must be off, but first, show me your wings little one," Ruby did so, and the nevermore said in wonder, "I've only ever seen a not human with wings like these once before, for these are nevermore wings. If you feel the tip you will find that there now are claws that will appear there along with armour for the whole blade. In time, you will likely also be able to use your feathers as I do, as projectiles. But that is not what tells me these are nevermore wings. It is because your feathers can act like a second armour, for they are the wings of the Morrigan,"

"You knew my grandmother?"

"An excellent woman she was, one of the only hunters that did not just mindlessly kill grim. You take after her as well. Now I must leave, we may see each other again one day, but remember, at the core of every Grimm is a spark of light being smothered by black. They all can be saved, and you can save them all. Goodbye for now, lady Reaper," the white Grimm spread her wings, and took flight, soon disappearing into the white clouds that covered vale that night.

Night.

' _Damnit!'_ Ruby thought _'it's nearly curfew, I need to go!'_ and so, off she went, whizzing past the gates of beacon, reaching her room in record time, just before the monitors did their routinely check of the bedrooms before going to sleep.

Or trying to.

It seems her team was eager to find out what she had been doing, Weiss and Yang both wanting Ruby to show Blake her wings. Eventually, after much squealing and promising not to tell, they all made it to sleep, just as the lights went out, ready for the new day.

Weiss, hoping to make new friends and prove herself to the class and teachers.

Blake, hoping to become stronger and happier.

Yang, hoping to spend time with her sister and teammates, and spar with them as well.

Ruby, hoping that during combat classes, no one would notice her aura staying at 100% each time she took a shot, or the tiny amounts of bone armour blocking them.

Tomorrow is certainly looking interesting so far.


	6. Truth or dare

The next day, Jaune barged into their room, waking them all up earlier than was necessary, still dressed in his bunny onesie. He said, "Last night, I saw a massive white bird, the size of the giant nevermore, fly out of the forest. None of my team believe me, and they were standing right next to me. I even asked one of the teachers and they laughed and told me 'Oh ho ho, that was a good one, I think you will enjoy my classes this year boy' and walked off, so tell me you believe me, please,"

"Nope,"

"Nun-uh,"

"No,"

"Sorry Jaune, I know what that was, I was practising with dust out in the forest, and I caused a huge ice dust explosion, it may have looked like a giant white bird, sorry about that, I'm not the best at using dust," Ruby explained, sticking to the imaginary story she had told her teammates last night, though wondering how Jaune could see the not-Grimm when only her and those who do not mean Grimm harm could see them.

"Oh. Alright then, but why didn't the others see it?" he asked.

"Probably missed it. It only lasted for a second but it would have burnt onto your retinas making it seem to last longer," Ruby finished.

Jaune, seeming to accept that answer, walked slowly back to his dorm, and Ruby let out a sigh of relief before falling back asleep with the rest of her team before realising that it was the perfect time to decorate their room. Reawakening the rest of team RWBY, she started going about decorating the room. Using a secret tunnel her mother mentioned in her letter, she smuggled in; red curtains, black bookshelves, the necessary items to form bunkbeds and numerous beanbags, nobody questioning where they're from or how she got them here, already used to her oddities.

So, after about an hour, the room was perfectly set up with full bookshelves, perfectly stacked bunkbeds with correspondingly coloured lace canopies and blood red curtains opened fully to reveal a rose vine planter. Checking the time and seeing that they still had half an hour before class, Team RWBY decided to play a little game of truth or dare, huntress style.

Sitting on their beds, Weiss went first.

 _Weiss: Truth or dare, Blake_

 _Blake: Truth_

 _Weiss: What is ninjas of love really about?_

 _Blake *_ _stuttering and blushing*: Really? In front of Ruby? I'll tell you later._

 _Ruby: Oh please, I read that book ages ago, it's pretty mild_

 _Yang: Ruby?!_

 _Ruby: Yang, the worst there is in that book is heated kissing and that's it_

 _Weiss: Okay then, Blakes' turn_

 _Blake: Truth or dare Yang_

 _Yang: Dare!_

 _Blake: Cut of a single strand of your hair_

 _Yang: Truth, I said truth!_

 _Blake: Nope, too late_

 _Yang: I can't! It's too much, please, change the dare_

 _Blake: Or what?_

 _Yang *twirling her hair innocently*: Did you know my semblance being fire related, tends to go off at night? I think I've set Rubys bed on fire, how many times?_

 _Ruby: Twelve_

 _Yang: So, I'm sure that the 'accidental' death of a teammate won't seem too out of the ordinary_

 _Blake: Fine, paint your fingernails green and pink alternating and keep them that way all day then_

 _Yang: Can do. Now, truth or dare Weiss_

 _Weiss: Truth_

 _Yang: Okay, hmm… how about, why do you seem to wear mostly white, bar initiation of course?_

 _Weiss *putting her shoulders back, chin up and arms folded in her lap, pulling a pretend regal voice*: Us Schnees' are above derogatory, common colours and will only wear the purist of colours to show our superiority and allegiance to Atlas *sitting and speaking normally again* plus it is one of the only colours that go with our hair_

 _Yang: Ohh. I thought you were in a cult or something_

 _Weiss: Yes, the cult of boring, anyway, truth or dare Ruby_

 _Ruby: dare!_

 _Weiss: Just like your sister, I dare you to leave your cloak in our room for today_

 _Yang: Give her something harder, like walking on the roof_

 _Ruby *standing upside down in the middle of the roof*: I can do that_

Everyone looked up at her in surprise except for Yang who just said, "You're welcome sis,"

Weiss, recovering first was about to ask how this was possible when Ruby suddenly shouted, "Oh no! we have 5 minutes to get to class!" and raced out the room, quickly followed by her teammates, who were trying to pretend their game of truth or dare never happened.

Arriving at class on time and sitting in a row at the front, their teacher started his introductions.

"Hello class. I am professor Port and I am teaching Grimm studies. This term we will start on the basic bone armour structure of a Grimm, but first a tale of a dashing young huntsman and his journey to glory. I am of course talking about me," and so he droned on and on for a while, whilst Ruby and Weiss drew caricatures of him.

This was until he called out, awakening the class, "Now class, today I will see if any of you in this class possess the true spirit of a huntsman! Would anyone like to prove themselves?" 

Numerous hands shot up, including most of teams RWBY and JNPR. Pointing at Ruby the professor said, "You, young lady. Would you please come and stand out the front?"

She did so, her weapon still at her desk.

Pulling the pin on the box containing a hidden Grimm, the Boarbatusk emerged, mad and red eyed, a third eye printed on its forehead, the sure sign of Salem. Smiling softly, Ruby whispered under her breath, 'I'm sorry, I hope you can move on' and started a frontal attack.

Just as she reached the Boarbatusk, and it started to charge her, she slid under it, her fist growing armour that went unnoticed by the class and penetrating the underside of the mad Grimm, ripping out its heart and killing it instantly.

Climbing out from under the Grimm and standing, the class and teacher cheered and clapped, professor port saying, "It appears we are in the presence of a true huntress, and without her weapon as well, how marvellous! It reminds me of myself when I was your age,"

A minute later, the bell rang, signalling the end of the double and the start of recess. Still standing in the remains of the Grimm, Ruby followed the Nevermores' instructions, drawing the darkness to her successfully and watching her shadow darken immensely.

She then followed her friends to the cafeteria and waited for the next period.

Somewhere dark, someone darker thought to herself, _'My darkness has been stolen from me, but how could that be possible? Darkness cannot be destroyed so how has it not returned? My minion was at Beacon when he went missing so mabe they have found a way to trap the darkness,'_ a shiver ran down her spine, _'Even so, I cannot feel it anymore. Somebody has stolen it and I can't get it back,'_

Salem started to scream internally as the pain of being separated from part of her darkness started to settle in. Eventually overwhelming her, she let out a ferocious howl, screaming into the darkness, frightening all those around her. For the first time in centuries, she had a reason to be scared. If something from that far away could cause her this much harm, then should she face it, she doubted she could survive.

"Cinder!" she called, the pain dulling, "Bring me a list of all those living at Beacon at the moment,"

Doing so, Cinder handed her a scroll. Going through the list of people, teachers and student alike, she soon found her most likely candidate, a red headed Mistralian girl with green eyes and an unblemished battle record, impressive for someone her age.

"Her," she said, "This Pyrrha Nikos, I suspect, may be a threat to our operation. Do not engage and remain cautious,"

Eyes widening slightly at the obvious fear in her masters voice, Cinder bowed and replied, "Yes, milady," and left with the scroll.

Little did she know, that had Salem scrolled downwards two more times, she would have found the real cause of her pain. The heir of her enemy and of an unimaginable amount of power.

Ruby Morrigan Rose.


End file.
